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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713259">A Dancing We Will Go</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saccharine_Seductress/pseuds/Saccharine_Seductress'>Saccharine_Seductress</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A conflicted Mind [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Light Angst, Pining, Spoilers, Unrequited Lust</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:00:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,173</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saccharine_Seductress/pseuds/Saccharine_Seductress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Myriem and the Staryk lord dance at Bashia's wedding.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A conflicted Mind [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A dancing we will go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I walked back to my chambers and saw a team of servants rushing around my dressing room. I stood in the center of the staging area lifting my arms. As soon as I did a footman came forward to  remove my coat. I slipped it off and then another servant came over to take off my jerkin, another for the shirt, and so on until I was naked. I walked to the bath and then three women immediately started washing me. One taking out a brush to smooth out my hair that had started freezing slightly. Servants moved around me and in between rooms as I sat in the tub and contemplated what my next move would be. My mind tried to work on the problem while my body was in a state of suspended animation, washed, brushed, dried, prodded and finally clothed. A life sized doll that was to be styled and molded as other saw fit. It was comforting to have this task taken away from me.<br/>
<br/>
I hated making these decisions and I had long since stopped caring which of the servants saw me naked. I usually undressed myself though as it was a pain calling for someone for such a small inconvenience. Dressing however, that did require a team. So many buttons, buckles, straps and fastenings, sometimes in odd places used only to alter the shape of the silhouette. And my boots, such a tedious thing to put on when they went to the knees, how anyone could put on leather boots by themselves were beyond me. Though I suppose those without servants didn’t use such tall or slim boots. There was something in that. Maybe my clothing was meant to be difficult to put on because it forced me and the rest of the nobility to use servants… Was it all an ill conceived ploy to display our wealth? <i>“I have five servants dress me each morning!” <i> I despised how close to the truth it probably was. Servants and peasants had plain clothing with as few flourishes, adornments, and fastenings as possible while maintaining function. They had to do everything on their own, so it stood to reason that they needed to have the simplest way to wear their clothing. I would have to put more thought into this at a later time.<br/>
<br/>
I thought back to a poem I had read recently from the mundane world. Perhaps poetry could be the way to my Lady love’s heart. I moved my tongue across  my teeth and the inside of my lip thinking of a few passages that may garner her favor.<br/>
<br/>
<i>“Had we but world enough, and time,<br/>
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.<br/>
We would sit down and think which way<br/>
To walk and pass our long love's day.”...<i><br/>
I forgot some of the stanzas and pushed past to the parts I knew next<br/>
<i>“My vegetable love should grow<br/>
Vaster than empires, and more slow;<br/>
An hundred years should go to praise<br/>
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;<br/>
Two hundred to adore each breast;<br/>
But thirty thousand to the rest;<br/>
An age at least to every part,<br/>
And the last age should show your heart;<br/>
For, Lady, you deserve this state,<br/>
Nor would I love at lower rate.”<i><br/>
Yes. She would appreciate a poem rooted in bargaining and worship. I let the tiniest hint of a smile light my face before coming back to myself<br/>
<br/>
...<br/>
<br/>
<i>Let us roll all our strength and all<br/>
Our sweetness up into one ball,<br/>
And tear our pleasures with rough strife<br/>
Through the iron gates of life:<br/>
Thus, though we cannot make our sun<br/>
Stand still, yet we will make him run.”<i><br/>
<br/>
She would certainly appreciate my vow to love her well for all of eternity, surely she could see the benefits of succumbing to my charms. I would coax her love from her mind as well as her heart. As well as from her loins. My eyebrow rose slightly and I noticed that the room was far too quiet. My eyes refocused and I found myself dressed and ready to leave at a moment's notice. I was <i>stunning!<i> I moved a hand to pull at my coat slightly and I felt the quality of the fabric. The softest wool imaginable, tightly wound and of purest white. The silver buttons shone brightly and the accenting buttonholes embroidered in white and silver silk were gorgeous. I took in a deep satisfied breath. My lady would surely fall in love with me by the end of the night, in this. If nothing else, she would desire my body. Love would follow soon enough after I bedded her and made her see stars and quiver in pure ecstasy. My lips curled on one side in a self satisfied smirk. I covered it with a small nod to the Valet. “Excellent work. Go down to the dining hall and enjoy your lavish meal as my thanks. All your staff performed their tasks well. You should take pride in their accomplishments”.<br/>
<br/>
With a flourish or his hand he dismissed the entire gaggle of servants and looked at himself in the mirror again. I mused at how quickly his life had been upended. It had been barely a week since my marriage to a village girl and in that time she transformed into a worthy partner to spend the rest of my life with. Or rather, her life with. I would outlive her by a century at least. ‘I may outlive her, but I will vow to keep satisfied with me’. I thought of sneaking onto her parents property, looking in through her window and seeing a skinny girl curled up on a rickety old bed, frost coating the windows and a small fire flickering from the other room. I came a few nights later and I saw a man in her bed and I thought very unkind things about her before I realized she was in the other room with her parents. She hadn’t even been mine yet and I was already possessive. Least of all because I had a feeling like I had seen that boy before and it left an unsavory taste in my mouth. Every time I spoke to her she challenged me and forced me to bend in some way.<br/>
<br/>
Even when she was weak and nearly frozen in fear she stood up to me, enticing me, even when I did not want to see it. She had her hooks in me from much earlier than I cared to admit. When she fled to Vysnia to her grandfather's home I assumed she would try to hide in the city. But when I reproached her she stuck her chin out and spoke so clearly and forcefully that I had to accept that she was honorable, for a human, that is. Now she had proven herself again, this time destroying all my preconceived notions of whom she was. It was titillating. Tantalizing. And oh so tempting. Like a ripe piece of fruit I wanted to bite into that flesh and devour her, seeds and all. A budding flower not yet in full bloom, but one could already see what it was destined to become. Well, she had bloomed, right before my eyes. In a moment she metamorphosed from a pebble in my shoe to an avalanche crushing me under its intensity. Ardor? Lust? Affection? Respect? It was all too difficult to know which was the more prominent emotion.<br/>
<br/>
I smoothed the pristine coat again and began walking to my Lady’s rooms. I felt her rooms calling to me, inviting me. Tomorrow I would feel a much stronger pull when night finally fell on the world and my waiting would be done. I would be able to taste my queen. Devour her. And be devoured in turn. I let out a hopeful, eager sigh as I walked along the path to her room. My feet carried me there without being told what to do. They already knew the path. They were already pulled by her gravity. I was absolutely besotted with her. My Vixen, my Lady, my Queen, my Love. I was intoxicated with her essence. I could feel her burrowing deep into my soul, uprooting my willpower and replacing it with the seeds of devotion. My golden Lady, my enchantress, my Wife. I reached her room and heard excited words from a child and a low murmur from its mother. Then after a moment I heard my wifes sweet voice declare “I’m ready to go” and I willed the doors to open quickly so that I might see her sooner, and with her wide eyes turned to greet me.<br/>
<br/>
She was draped in a  gown of heavy white silk with a coat of white brocade embroidered in gold, and a high-necked collar of gold lace and clear jewels to go around her gorgeous shoulders. Her heavy golden crown pressed down on her pretty wavy hair but she didn’t bend under its weight. She held herself upright, daring the cosmos to challenge her. She was lovely, exquisite, dangerously so. She eyed me with an expression I could not decipher. I bowed to her as courtly as I could muster with my heart beating so ferociously. “Come, then, my lady, and let us to the wedding”. She breathed out a small sigh of resignation and turned to her bondsmen and inclined her head in recognition.<i> ‘Resignation?’<i> I thought, how odd. We walked to the courtyard in silence, thought it took only a minute with my private passageway, it felt like hours. I could not place this aura radiating off of her. What had I done wrong? She had won, I had complied, we were going to the wedding of her most beloved cousin. Why did I feel like I was about to be reprimanded? I was dressed in all my best finery, she was dressed exquisitely. Where had I gone wrong? We arrived at the courtyard and my heart was in my throat. Or perhaps it was a stone in my gut. It felt like both were happening simultaneously. It must be the weight of her crown. Solid gold was far heavier than silver.<br/>
<br/>
The carriage awaited us as the mountain opened for me and it was heaped in fur to keep her warm. She looked at the carriage and I could see her mind calculating the best way to enter without tearing the dress that hugged her curves so delicately. I took her by the waist without a second thought and gently placed her on the seat. My fingers wanted to linger on her dress and feel the warmth that seeped out from under the silky layers. I let go, my fingers tingling from the sensation, still strong though muted from the gloves. I sat down next to her and the deer lept into action.<br/>
<br/>
I forced the road to move quickly, the glass mountain sliding away as fast as my magic allowed. The sooner we arrived, the sooner we could leave. We only need dance at the wedding before we left. That was all I agreed to. I turned to her and eyed her beautiful face as the wind whipped around her, ruffling her hair slightly. My thoughts were a tempest waiting to blow down every barrier of propriety I had built to shield myself. I needed her to be mine. I needed to press my lips against hers. To press my body against hers. To feel her breath on my neck. To smell the sun on her skin and let it infiltrate my mind. To let her touch intoxicate me. I was unable to stop my tongue from saying what my blood was shouting at me. “I will answer no questions for you tonight.” I only just held it in long enough to say it at a normal speed. My soul trying to reach out to hers and make it happen <i>now<i> .<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
“What?” Her voice cracked with alarm.”We have a bargain!” she reasoned with me, probably afraid of what I could and would do to her tonight. “In exchange for your rights only.” I debated “You have given me nothing in exchange for mine. I set no value upon them, and now see I bargained falsely—” I cut myself off abruptly, turning to face forward, and then slowly said, “Is that why you demanded answers to fool’s questions as your return? To show your disdain for my insult?” I sat there in silence as the sound of the road and the wind tried to fill my ears. I laughed almost blithely. I saw her eyes widen and her mouth open slightly in surprise. I seized her hand and kissed it, I breathed in her scent and I had to force myself to stop before I tried to do more to her. “I will make you amends tonight, my lady, and show you that I have learned better how to value you; I will not require another lesson beyond this one,” with a wave of my arm over the wide landscape smothered in the snow. She made gorgeous snow of the purest white. Fluffy and crunchy, Soft and delicate. A snowflake landed on an eyelash but it quickly melted away as she blinked in confusion.’ A hundred years of winter that had somehow come all at once on a summer’s day’ I thought, remembering one of my conditions of her rule.<br/>
“<i>You<i> didn’t make this winter.” she let out in a strained voice. She still did not understand her power. “No, my lady,” I breathed out with as much affection as I could manage. I smiled at her and almost sighed with delight as I took in her beautiful visage. “No my lady”, I genty declared. I let the pride wash over me in gentle waves as I looked at her in all her gold and silk. Her eyes flitted to me and then the snow, to  her gold buttons and then back to me. I smiled at her brightly, practically gushing with affection for my little snow queen. It runed to the driver and urged him on “Go!”. I was so excited to show off my beautiful wife, even if it was just to a room of peasants. Holding her hand right now was the only thing I needed in the world. Either world.<br/>
<br/>
We silently rode together and I let my mind practice the poetry I would recite to her as I undressed her later tonight.<br/>
<br/>
<i>“It is not only light that falls over the world... Spreading inside your body... it΄s suffocated snow…So much as clarity…taking it΄s leave of you...As if you were on fire from within...The moon lives...in the lining of your skin”. <i></i></i><br/>
<br/>
My eyes wandered to her skin and I let out a silent sigh as I closed my eyes with a small smile. We were almost there, in a minute we <i>would<i> be there. Her eyes were focused on the road speeding to her left and I was so happy her hand was still in mine. Finally she was accepting me. Even if it was this small gesture, I knew I could slowly make her mine given enough time. My mind waxed poetic as I thought of her. Not only her beauty, but her unbreakable spirit, the power behind her eyes. There was nothing I would not love about her. Our chariot finally arrived at its destination. I leapt out and held my hand out to my Lady love. She grabbed it tightly as she stepped out and it made my heart leap. She squeezed my hand in reassurance! She <i>did<i> want me back! She might not give her whole self over to me but I could feel passion in her eyes and grip. The music was so loud that it permeated the air around us and into the next street.<br/>
<br/>
I led her to the door of her Grandfather’s home and I knocked on the double doors with a bit of magic to ensure they heard us arrive. It would not do to have my Lady grow cold in front of the door. Trapped outside like a beggar. Then the music and the chatter all stopped at once. They knew we were here. I curled my lip at one edge and smoothed it back before the door opened. I knocked again thump-thump-thump. The doors opened and there was a  crowd of men surrounding the entrance. The wind blew in and the fog rolled off of me and into the house. I let out a gasp as the heat hit me. I hated that it had surprised me. I looked around the room and saw so many tan faces and colorful head scarves... and tiny hats… how odd. Everyone's eyes were on me, my wife was practically invisible next to me because she was the same height as all of them. Then a man stepped forward out of the crowd. He was old and he had a white beard and white hair. He stopped in front of me and said, “I am Aron Moshel. This is my house. What do you want here?”. I nearly stepped back as he said his name. How <i>disgusting!<i> To say it aloud for <i>anyone<i>  to hear?!?!?! My nose flared but I managed to keep my thoughts inside my head from pouring out.<br/>
<br/>
<i>‘I am in the mundane world. The sunlit world has different customs.  DO NOT embarrass your wife in front of her people.  DO NOT  bring shame upon your house and your kingdom’<i><br/>
<br/>
I forced my mouth to move even though my feet wanted to run away from this madness. “We are come by invitation and by true promise given, to dance at the wedding of my lady’s cousin.” The old man took it as a fair answer and I turned to my lady to present her.  I heard a small noise of pain from across the room. My eyes darted to a woman sitting along the wall. My Lady stared at her and started to cry softly. Oh. It was her mother. I felt a small pang at the sight of my wife's tears rolling down her cheeks. I was a bit regretful I had not allowed them to say goodbye before I took her to my glass mountain.<br/>
<br/>
“Then come in and be welcome and rejoice with us,” my eyes snapped back at the homeowner in front of me, so we walked inside. There were two empty chairs facing onto the dancing there, and we sat down in the chairs. Her hand still cradled in mine. Even after that nobody was talking or moving. But her grandfather turned back to the musicians and said, “This is a wedding! Play! Play the hora!” very forcefully. Perhaps this is where my Lady inherited her spirit. Then the musicians started to play a little, and he began to clap with them, turning to face the rest of the room and showing them all his clapping, and then little by little everyone else started to clap, too, and stamp in time with the music. After a minute they all seemed to regain their courage and started dancing again in great circles.<br/>
<br/>
The bride and group were in two separate circles like a barrier separating them from each other. Strange, it was a union, why keep them apart? I felt my wife’s hand fidget to the beat of the music and I suspected she wanted to dance. I supposed it was time for her to uphold her promise to her cousin, at last. The circles morphed into new barriers and then everyone was encircling a group dancing in the middle. It was quite lively, almost hypnotizing. All the colors of their attire swirling into a rainbow inside this salon. I let my eyes unfocus and appreciate the twirling colors and flapping fabric.<br/>
<br/>
I came back to myself as I saw someone approach us and hold out a hand to my Lady. My wife was being pulled into that whirlpool of music and color and swaying bodies and I refused to let her go alone. Fearful that if I stopped holding her hand she would disappear into the crowd. I let myself get pulled along with her and I let the music fill my chest. I did not know the steps but my presence started to change the shape of the dancing. We all moved together in one direction joining in one large circle.<br/>
<br/>
I breathed out and let my magic fill the room. Everyone started rushing into the circle, the elderly, the children, the invalids. The walls started melting away and I brought everyone out into the beautiful snowfall. I brought the white trees to form their own circle around us, blessing this couples union as well as my own. The new couple were still in their chairs bouncing atop us all. Men rushed in to change places with the others. They worked in shifts to replace the ones who grew weary. The white trees were so happy to share in the celebration that they started to dance too.Singing with their leaves. Swaying along with us, so glad to have new worshipers praying at their altar.<br/>
<br/>
Our time was almost at an end, midnight was almost here. I let my magic slowly fade away and we transitioned back into the sunlit world. Our merry party slowly came back to the great hall and they clapped and cheered. Embracing each other and simply enjoying the company of their loved ones. It made me smile. I saw my Lady look happier than I had ever seen her before and my heart fluttered in my chest. A bell tolled in the distance and our bargain was now complete. She had danced and her cousin's wedding, and a new day had begun. I held her hand up and she looked at me in surprise, almost as if she had forgotten I had been there creating all this magic for her. “Come, my lady, the dancing is done”.</i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></i></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Let us take our leave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Come, my lady, the dancing is done.” The humans started slowly moving away from me and my queen. I saw my Lady’s eyes drop down and a small frown briefly passed her lips. I don’t understand her. Just moments ago she was laughing and singing and smiling in our dance. I even opened up the path between worlds so her family could revel in the majesty of the white trees. I blessed the marriage of her fat cousin all to please my golden queen. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>danced</span>
  </em>
  <span> for her, next to all these ugly peasants. All for </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and she was already closed off to me again. After everything I had given her. I could feel my eyes turn to ice and my face hardened as I looked at my queen and her mother huddled together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mother clung to her hands unmoving. I let out a soft sigh and firmly told her “Let go, mortals, let go. A night’s dancing </span>
  <em>
    <span>alone</span>
  </em>
  <span> did she buy of me.” I softened slightly as I looked into the old woman’s face. “You shall not keep her. She is my lady now, and belongs no more in the sunlight world.” She had the audacity to cling to my lady. She paled and shook her head. Like she knew there was nothing to do, but she denied me my rights as a husband anyway. I raised my hands to slap her across the face and pull my queen from her bony hands. How dare she try to keep her here. My lady cried out “No!” as she tried to pull her hand away from her mother's grasp. The old woman must have had a strong grip, since my lady pulled in vain. Her hand was held by that frail woman’s dry, wrinkled hand. I was glad to have taken my queen away before her hands turned to calloused, square, spades with labor too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The side doors flew open with a crash as they banged into the walls. Everyone shrunk with the sound and they scattered like cockroaches towards to edges of the room except for My Lady and her loved ones. Though their eyes had gone wide, and their faces, sallow in fear. Another royal pair waltzed into the room with a vicious confidence of those with true power. The woman wore a crown glittering Staryk silver and held a small box. I locked eyes with the man and saw coals burning through them. The Tsar sizzled out a laugh like a log soaked in oil and I went still like an animal that feels the pricks in the back of its head when a predator is near. It had to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>him.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Czernobog.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Irina, Irina!” he said cloyingly, “You have kept your promise and he is here! Give me the chain!”  The Tsarina opened up her box and handed a chain to the Tsar that sparkled in the candlelight. Czernobog smiled brightly with all the depravity that  perfectly suited the great devourer. The demon of flame that had been slowly melting my mountain, for years, was bearing his teeth at me. The peasants started pressing themselves against the wall trying to fade into the paper as Cernobog slowly crept his way to me. I still had my Lady’s wrist in my hand and I pushed her aside with her mother still clinging to her and they cowered in the doorway to the other room. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I steeled myself to the heat of his eyes and I focused all my rage into my voice as I coldly said “Do you think to catch me so easily, Devourer? I have never seen your face before but I know your name, Czernobog!” I jumped forward, releasing my wife, and took hold of the chain forcing ice into it. Frost shot out all along its length and icicles began to form along it like thorns jutting out to slice the demons hands. His hands spasmed in pain and howled as I ripped it from his hands and threw it behind me. It crashed to the floor and shattered where my ice had touched it. I clubbed Czernobog with the back of my hand and he flew across the room like a parchment ball. He slid to the stage with a thunderous cacophony of instruments that twanged and snapped with the force of his limp body. At once he rose onto his feet with a distorted twisting of an animated corpse, blood running from his mouth. He hissed at me and blood bubbled out and turned to a foul smelling smoke as his thigh popped back into place. His eyes glowed red and the Tsarina screamed in pure terror “Get out! Everyone, all of you, run, get out of the house!”. All the people, now freed from their frozen fear, ran out through every possible exit. Some even ran towards each other only to find an opening that was farther away from them than where they had been. I even saw one young man even climb out through a window in my periphery. Children screeched and were taken up by any adult passing by. I kept my eyes firmly on Czernobog while the world was flung into chaos. I heard my Lady  plead “ Father, please! Mama, he’ll kill you” as she struggled against her mother's ironlike grip. And the old woman cried out “Better we should die!” as the old man shouted “</span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> go, </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>run!” as he tried to circle his arms around my queen. I would hunt down my Lady if they took her but I needed to focus on catching the demon and extinguishing his horrible flame. I danced around the room with all the grace of falling snow avoiding every attack, my braids gently bouncing along my coat. The Tsar kept trying to lay his hands on me to melt me and drink up all my winter magic. I was too fast for his slow lumbering steps. He was too easy to read. His next move was always visible in his glowing eyes. The demon would reach out and I would slide out of reach and let him grab a chair or table edge instead, then bash him with my fists. He left burn marks when he let go, perhaps his hands were always scorching hot or maybe it was the fury leaching out through his skin. I turned my hands into blocks of ice so they hurt him even more. I felt his fingers crunch beneath my bombardments. My fists were so solid I barely even felt the blows land. The Devourer’s face was bloody and swollen and one of his eyes looked like it would detach from the socket if I hit it in just the right way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> I heard my lady try to bargain and plead with her family to leave and save themselves and they kept refusing. My queen was made of cold steel, she wasn’t afraid of a monster of flame. She knew I was strong enough and clever enough to protect her. Oh how &lt;i&gt;</span>
  <em>
    <span>marvelous</span>
  </em>
  <span>&lt;i&gt; she was. I would show her how much I valued her. I would worship her and her high magic with </span>
  <em>
    <span>every</span>
  </em>
  <span> part of myself. She would know my devotion. My honor demanded that I make good on my bargain and give her the pleasures of the marriage bed. But I could feel in my chest that it wouldn’t be for </span>
  <em>
    <span>honor</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but for my own desire. It made my mind race as I contemplated that, as well as my blood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I kept slowly moving the demon towards the hearth as I escaped his feeble attempts to catch me. It was far too easy to guide him. He was a maiden on the dance floor, following my lead so beautifully you’d think his heart had been won. I saw the Tsarina come to my Lady and she gesticulated wildly as she spoke. I heard the patter of running feet go towards the dance floor and sprint back to the Tsarina. I heard shuffling and murmurs as I reached the fireplace. I waited for the Tsar to lob another incompitent attempt to grab my arms with his broken hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As he reached for my coat sleeve I spun delicately out of his reach and I used the same move to grab his arms and throw him into the fireplace. My hands steamed as I touched him and I roared out “Stay where you belong, Czernobog!!! By your name I command you!” The body was crumpled in the hearth and it let out a crackling wheeze “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Get up!Get up!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”. It sounded like a flame being blown out by a great winter wind. I smiled to myself and rubbed my hands to soothe the burn as I watched the eyes of the demon flicker in impotence. The flesh Czernobog was using couldn’t rise no matter how hard he tried. The Tsars shattered body twitched in pain and effort, but his flimsy mortal carcass could do no more. I had bound him with his name and all the high magic that knowing it gave me. I was so wrapped in my own glee that I almost didn’t hear those quick footsteps rushing towards me. It must have been my Lady’s father with those uneven steps of age.“Josef!” I heard the mother say. And then my wife wailed out a simple “NO!!!”. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> want me! I had won her esteem with my might and splendor. I easily spun out of the way of his clumsy attempt to bind me. With one hand still frozen solid I gave him a hard shove. Harder than I </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to considering how weak he was. But he had tried to catch me in a chain of silver and steal away </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> Golden lady, whom I had taken </span>
  <em>
    <span>fairly</span>
  </em>
  <span> through bargain. He lay on the floor inertly and the chain slid away from us. Then I saw him start to breath shakily and roll slightly to get off his awkwardly bent arm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His wife ran up to him and cradled him in her lap muttering something in a different language. I might have picked up the old man to shake him, but then my Lady ran up to me and tossed her tall golden crown to the floor and bellowed out “I’ll never go back with you if you hurt them! I’ll die first! I swear it!”. I was stunned for a moment as her words hit me like a blow to the gut. She would let this man dishonor me </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>our union.  Did she not understand his crime? I breathed heavily to control my fury. I clenched my fists and yelled “You trouble me like summer rain! He came at me with a chain to </span>
  <em>
    <span>bind</span>
  </em>
  <span> me!” I felt my rage taking over and slowed my words to say “Am I to make</span>
  <em>
    <span> no</span>
  </em>
  <span> answer?!”. It took all of me to not fumble over my words in indignation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her face bunched up in anger and she snapped back “You came first and took me!”. She wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t the whole of the matter but I could feel her and her parents pain in those words. I slowly dropped my hands and let my anger subside with a deep grumble of “Oh very well!” through clenched teeth. I wouldn’t kill her loves, to shield my pride; this </span>
  <em>
    <span>once</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Now Come”, I spat out “ The hour is late and the time is done, and never again will I bring you hence; to be insulted by weak hands who dare think they can keep you from me!” It took all of my willpower not to dishonor my wife and throw her over my shoulder and toss her in the sleigh. I flicked my wrist and the front doors flew open onto my road. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her face drooped and her eyes glistened with moisture as she turned from the road to her family. She looked around the room taking in every detail. I was satisfied that she had not lost all sense of propriety and stained herself with the grime of the sunlit world. Tears began to fall on her cheeks and she took a step towards me reaching for my open hand. I breathed out a small sigh of relief that I could hold my head high as we left this </span>
  <em>
    <span>wretched</span>
  </em>
  <span> place. Then my ears were violated by the old woman with her arms outstretched “No! Myriem! Myriem!”. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I let out a noise of cracking glaciers. I nearly hissed out “And still you </span>
  <em>
    <span>dare</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” as I stared at her mother pointedly. “Think </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> to bind her? Victory has come to my hands this night, and the Devourer is cast down! Now, for a lifetime of men I will close the white road and keep my kingdom fast; until all who know my Lady’s name have died, and I will leave you not even scraps of memory to try and catch her with!”. The horse-faced Tsarina pressed against the walls was slowly edging her way to take her leave while I was distracted. No matter, I wouldn’t hunt her down anyway. She’d be dead for decades before a Staryk stepped foot onto these lands again. We would never again need gold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I grabbed my wife's hand and started to pull her towards the sleigh and away from all these wretched humans. I would lock her away in the glass mountain with me until the entire world froze over. Just then the tall blonde girl started running towards me with the chain again. I knew I should have ripped it apart. These vile peasants had no idea what I was capable of! I started to twist out of the way but I still had my Lady’s wrist. I was going to spin her close to my chest and complete the revolution but she dropped to the ground like a sack of oats and she ever so slightly made me lose my balance. I felt the cold chain around me tightly as I regained my footing. I felt a tempest of pure outrage swell within me, and I knew my face had the purest white of a blizzard shining through me. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With my Lady’s hand still in mine I struggled to hold her securely without injury. I didn’t dare let her go with these honorless weights about, ready to steal her away. I focused my rage and grabbed the chain and pulled the blonde almost off her feet. She was a stubborn mule with strong arms and a fervor in her eyes I didn’t expect. The tall boy ran up to help her keep her ground on the other end of the chain. He was strong too. That lanky boy who missed too many meals was holding me with a chain. I couldn’t pull with all my strength without letting go of my queen. And that I </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span> not do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I yanked harder on the chain as my Lady looked up at us in horror. Suddenly the little boy ran up to help his siblings too. What did</span>
  <em>
    <span> he</span>
  </em>
  <span> expect to do? The blonde girl and tall boy had surely seen hard labor from the look of their hands and the strength of their backs. But this little one weighed nothing! He grabbed his sister's apron knot like it was all a game. How pitiful-- I would not strike him down with the rest. I bellowed out a sound of ice breaking on a river and decided to bargain, instead. They were poor enough and probably stupid enough to take something trivial. I stamped my foot a bit childishly and spat out, “Very well, you have bound me! What will you have to let me go?” as regally as I could. They stood startled for a breath before the blonde girl blurted out “Leave Miryem and go!” As if she could </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> make me relinquish my golden queen. My Lady still wriggled on the floor trying to escape my iron grip. Whether to flee my kingdom or to let me fight, I didn’t know. But I would never take the chance, “NO! You have caught me with silver, but your arms have not the strength to hold me. I will not surrender my Lady!”.I thrashed against my chains still trying not to hurt my wifes fragile arm. Her father staggered to the chain as his wife grabbed the other end of the chain. They formed a circle with their hands around the child to keep him upright. I whipped around in my chain and made them stagger and they almost fell down as a group but they caught their footing by sheer force of will. I collected myself and resolutely said “What will you have to loose your bond?” then more forcefully, “Ask for something else or fear what I shall do when you tire!” The blonde just shook her head frantically “Let Miryem go!” I lost my temper and let out a fresh squall of winter winds as I hissed “Never!” I looked into the eyes of my wife and spoke truly. “I will not leave you my queen, my golden lady; once I was a fool but twice I will not be!”. I pulled harder knowing that if I surrendered, they would keep my greatest treasure from me. Their hands started to slip from the chain, the ends getting shorter. But I was growing weaker from effort at fighting with five people and not crushing my Lady’s wrist to dust. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I breathed in very deeply and let ice start to grow through me. I used the chill in the air to make it easier. My exhales created clouds of fog as I panted in ragged determination and growing fatigue. I pushed the frost out of my skin, into my clothes and onto the chain itself. The temperature dropped in the room as my ice called forth cool winds from my kingdom of winter, and the chain started to form icicles that grew sharper every second. I could see their hands turn pale with the cold. I spoke with all the conviction and pity I could hold in my voice, “Let go, mortal, let go, and ask a different boon of me”.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I made my voice like deep snow fall ending abruptly and leaving the air around stiller than previously thought possible; absolute and ataractic in its way. “I will give you a treasure of jewels or elixir of long life; I will even give you back the spring in fair return for holding fast. But you reach too far, and dare too high, when you ask for my queen”. Suddenly, I knew why they would hold so steadfastly. They valued her as highly as </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> did, but before she even had high magic or riches. “Try me thus again, and know I will lay winter in your flesh and flay your hearts open to freeze in red blood upon that snow”. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their terrified and determined eyes made me want to be less harsh. To consider giving them a bit more than I wanted, to please my Lady.  “You have no high powers, no gift of magic true, and love alone can not give you the strength to hold me”, I let out staunchly. I might give them leave to visit her once a year if they asked for it. I could hardly strip away all memory of my Lady when homes were full of reminders. And my golden queen would never stop longing for them. Quietly my lady rose to her feet and softly said “Wanda”. And I knew my lady would come willingly with me. I started to relax my grip on her just as the blonde girl declared a simple “no”. I could see that no matter what I offered she would not take it. She would rather die frozen in this house than let my Lady go. I looked deeply in her blue eyes and she saw that I wasn’t lying and I wouldn’t let go of my queen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A hoarse voice suddenly crackled out </span>
  <em>
    <span>“A chain of silver to bind him tight, a ring of fire to quench his might!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>and twelve candles lit up all at once. How could I be so foolish?! I dismissed the Tsarina and there she was helping her demon husband to his feet, blood still gurgling out of his lips. And slowly the bones started to pop back into place and knit themselves together. He threw out a still crushed finger and the flames raged higher, unsteadying me as I gasped in pain. Czernobog was laughing wrathfully and more blood fizzed out between his avatars cracked lips. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>My armor of ice broke off in a miniature avalanche and I felt my face turn weakly white. As the Tsars animated corpse walked further from the firepit he regained his beauty. Fingers smoothed out, his cuts sealed themselves, his limp disappeared with a great popping sound. His face was perfect again, his green eyes shone with coals. My queen shuddered in my hand and I felt her heart racing as she looked from me to the Tsar. My captors had loosened their hold on my chains from the shock of seeing a corpse be rejuvenated. But I was in too much pain to move without dropping to the ground. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Demond flicked his thin wrist and the chain flew out of their hands and into his with a tinkling of metal. My arms were pulled agonizingly tightly to my side; blood leaving my hands. My wife freed her hand as I was dragged from my spot like a lamb to the slaughter. I tried to dig my feet into the floor but it was too smooth and I was already weakened by fire. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It</span>
  </em>
  <span> stepped in front of me as my Lady scrambled away to cower with her mother. The chain was reformed and bound with magic. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It tightened and could have squeezed all the air out of me if I hadn’t used all of my strength to stop it. “I have you, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> you!” it creaked elatedly. He reached up to my face and melted a line in my cheek, down to my throat. He licked his finger and it came out of his mouth steaming. I clenched my jaw, determined not to whimper in pain. I would never let him hear me cry out if I could help it. I could see chernobog shutter with glee as his skin grew hot in shuttering gasps. The heat rolled off him and into my skin. “Tell me”, It whispered sweetly, “Tell me your name!”. And in that moment I knew. My kingdom was safe for a little while longer. I let out a firm “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Neve</span>
  </em>
  <span>r.” Czernobog let out a screech and pushed his hands across my chest which then burst into a steam cloud. “Your name, your name!” it groaned out in desperation, “You are bound, I have you; I will have you whole! Tell me your  name! By the binding I command you!”. I shut my eyes against the pain and winced rather than wail in front of them. All I could do was breathe through it until he stopped. For a few seconds I could think only of breathing, and the laws of magical binding. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>He had no claim over me!</b>
  <span> I let out a thin croak and stared into those burning coals “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You</span>
  </em>
  <span> have not bound me, Czernobog; You hold my chains but I owe you no surrender”. I mustered up more strength to bark out “Neither by your hand nor by your cunning am I bound. You have not paid for this victory, false one, </span>
  <em>
    <span>cheat</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I will </span>
  <em>
    <span>give</span>
  </em>
  <span> you nothing!”.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The creature let out a snarling hiss and spun around to his tsarina. “Irina, Irina,what will you have? Name a gift, it shall be yours. Name even two, or three! Only take a payment from my hands and </span>
  <em>
    <span>give him true to me.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She gave a short shake of her head “No”, her long hair rustled along her high collar and necklace, “I brought him to you, as I promised, and that is all I promised. I will not take anything from you. I have done this for Lithvas and not for greed. Is he not bound? Can you not break his winter?”. I almost believed her motives, her Staryk silver gleamed in the vile candlelight and I saw the determination in her eyes. A queen who would not take payment from a demon must have high magic protecting her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Czernobog circled me like a panicked alley cat, muttering and hissing to himself in thought. He finally spoke and coiled his arms around me “I will feast upon you everyday!” and raked his molten hot fingers across my face. The searing pain made me quiver as steam rose out of his touch. “Sweet and cold, will each drought be. Each one will burn you to the quick”. My mind raced and I thought of the glass mountain melting under his touch. I was so grateful my road closed as the ring of fire engulfed me. My people were safe for now, for at least a little longer. “How long will you say no to me?” he moaned in my ear like a lover's call. “Forever” I whispered out, “Though you feast upon me to the end of days, I will never unlock my kingdom’s gates and you will have nothing of me you do not steal”. It took all of me to refuse him, but I still had the power to do it. He did not own me and couldn’t compel me.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Devourer raged as he screamed “I will steal </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>! I have you chained, I have you held fast! I will steal all the fruit of your white trees and devour them whole; I will drink your servants and your crown, I will bring </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> your mountain down!”. I glanced at my Lady and saw terror and sorrow in her eyes. She may not love me but at least she didn’t take satisfaction from my pain and the death of the Staryk. It took so much effort to stay standing, but I growled out resolutely “And even then; even then I will refuse you. My people will go to the flame with their names locked fast in their hearts. You will not have that of them, nor me”. I stood a bit straighter, then. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Czernobog roared in a fury and seized my face in his hands. I let out a shriek in pure, overwhelming agony. I sank to my knees with a thud like dead weight. My face was dripping with ice melt and my body wouldn’t stop shivering. The Demon loudly sucked on his fingers and proclaimed, almost aroused, “Oh how sweet the taste, how the cold </span>
  <em>
    <span>lingers</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Winter king... king of ice” he sang to me “ I will suck you until you are so small I can crunch you with my teeth, and what will your name be worth then? Will you not give it to me now and go into the flame while you are still great?”. His breath was hot at my neck and I shivered against the disgusting sensation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment I thought to die with my head held high, and my back straight. To die while I was still a king and not a quivering puddle on the ground. I wanted to take his offer and end my suffering as quickly as possible. But before I could think any more, I instinctively shuddered out a “No” and began to tremble all over. I knew that for every second I delayed my death, it would be worth ten times as many for my people. They couldn’t fight Czernobog but the glass mountain might protect them for a time. I had gold and food stored inside, it might be enough for a few months at least. Hopefully, this demon would meet his end by another's hand before he drank up my kingdom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Tsar made a disappointed crackling sound “then I will keep you bound in silver and bound in flame until you change your mind and give me your name!” his head whipped to the Tsarina, “Call them! Call them and take him away!” His animated corpse lurched forward and nearly fell. It stumbled towards the chairs and kept knocking them over and staggered until he finally caught one and steadied himself. His coal eyes turned back into emerald green pools as his body shook with the effort of righting itself, as his head began to sag. The horse-faced Tsarina sprinted across the room to the nearly empty Tsar and held him up. He looked at her with a plea and weakly said “the guards”, but it was almost musical. I hated how beautiful and delicate he was now that the Devourer was locked away in the back of his skull. The doors swung open to the alley at the flick of his wrist’ So he had magic in his own right. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Of course</span>
  </em>
  <span> he would sell his soul to Czernobog for a bit more power. Mortals were such wretched creatures.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Guards!” he called out more forcefully, and men filled the dance hall. They froze in fear when they saw me. Even on my knees, bound in chains and in agony, I was fierce enough to stop them in their tracks. I was mildly pleased by that. They made magic signs across their chests and looked at me and the Tsar. He raised his hands to motion them towards the candles, but the Tsarina pushed it down forcefully and spoke out to the soldiers. “Have courage!” and they all turned to her with affection and fear in their eyes. “This is the lord of the Staryk, who brought this evil cursed winter to our land, and with the blessing of God he has been captured. We must lock him away to bring spring back to Lithvas. Are you all God-fearing men? Bless yourselves, and each of you take a candle in your hands, and keep them around him! And we must find a rope to tie to the chain that binds him, and draw him along.” She must have had Staryk blood to use my silver in such a way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I languorously looked at my Lady as her family rubbed her hands and wrist to soothe her minor aches. Her thick brown hair still slightly waved around her soft face and framed her gorgeous blue eyes. Why had I never noticed how </span>
  <em>
    <span>bright</span>
  </em>
  <span> her eyes were? The guard who approached first, had a ridiculous mustache, and said to the tsarina, “Your Majesty, I will dare it, for your sake,” bringing a rope out of the courtyard. He tied the rope to my chain quickly, and then he stepped back as if I was waiting to bite his head off. He wasn’t wrong, I would have if I had the power. But I could freeze the chain, at least. And I suspect his fingers were chilled to the bone or maybe even frost bitten. How delightful, I could still assert my power against these peasants at least.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He held onto the thick hemp rope as others came to haul me away to my doom. But I wouldn’t give the Tsar the satisfaction and let them drag me along the floor like a sack of grain. I rose wearily to my feet and stood as tall as possible as the men surrounded me with their infernal candles. I knew they weren’t burning very brightly but it felt like torches edging closer to my skin. Though unpleasant, I could withstand this. It was nothing compared to the touch of that demon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They tried pulling me again but I turned to my lady and planted myself. Her parents had their arms around her in a loving and protective embrace. Their eyes full of worry over their daughter and a burning hatred for me. My Lady looked like a trapped rabbit in her dress of purest white. Her blue eyes piercing through to my soul. She had ice in her eyes and I felt my heart melt slightly, painfully, it startled me and I opened my mouth to say “My lady, I did not think you could answer it, when I took you from your home without your leave, and set value only on your gift. But I am answered truly. You have given fair return for insult thrice over and set your worth: higher than my life and all my kingdom and all who live therein, and though you send my people to the fire, I can claim no debt to repay. It is justly done.” I bowed deeply in recognition of her true value and closed my eyes in reverence. As I turned to leave with the brutes I heard her whimper out “What can I do? What am I going to do?”. Perhaps she might have cared, at least a little, for me and the glass mountain. I would hold on to that hope as my kingdom melted away beneath the touch of Czernobog.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Into the Sewers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>Our party made its way through the city's inner walls.The streets were empty like the people could feel the miasma radiating off the Devourer. The Tsarina took me to an alleyway between two old houses not far from the wedding. I never should have agreed to my Lady’s ridiculous request. I should have known it for the trap it was. I could not begrudge her too much. She kept her end of the bargain after all. A sharp stab in my heart reminded me of all the silver left in that tunnel. She had held up her end of the deal. To the letter. Maliciously so. At first it excited me to see her maneuver her way around the chess board so well. Now it was a reminder of how foolish I had been to think her worthless.</p>
<p>    That horse faced woman moved to a wall at the end of the alley and pushed aside some ivy to reveal a little door. She opened it with a tiny key hidden in a coin purse. She motioned to some guards and half of them walked carefully out into the grassy field. They held onto candles and kept the ring of fire closed around me. The mustached man pulled on the rope around my chain and guided me out. If I had less honor I would have let him try to pull me like a stubborn donkey, though he’d never have the strength by himself. I was becoming obsequies the longer the chains were around me. I sighed internally and hoped my death would come swiftly before I started to beg.</p>
<p>We walked through and found ourselves outside the city walls of Vysnia. How odd, anyone who found this door could decimate the entire inner city before the Duke had a chance to mobilize his army. Perhaps... Perhaps he did not <em>care</em> about my Lady’s people? They always lived apart from others. Their small groups were usually relegated to a different part of the city even in towns no bigger than a mile long. Sometimes they had little communities all by themselves just outside regular towns. They usually had a little more gold than other peasants, they always had good lamps and odd candle holders made of fine metals… Well, no need to think on that now. I would try to remember the path back to my Lady’s house. There was a slim chance that I could bargain my way out of this.</p>
<p> The Tsar looked at his queen with disdain as she continued to prove how quick witted and prepared she was. Strange, why would a king want an idiot for a queen? Mortals are moronic, even at the best of times. Outside the wall, the queen took us out onto the hill, to a place beside a small wizened tree, and told the guards to put down the candles in a circle around me and then said, “You have served Lithvas and God tonight. You will be rewarded for what you have done. Now go back to the city, and before you return to the palace, go straight to the church and give thanks, and speak to no one of what you have seen tonight”.</p>
<p>They all fled promptly, except for the tall brave hero, who set down the rope carefully inside the ring of candles, and asked the Tsarina, “Your Majesty, may I not stay and serve you?” She looked at him with her slightly crooked yes and asked, “What is your name?”.  <em> Disgusting </em> They gave away their power as means of introduction, as if it was nothing. “Timur Karimov, Your Majesty,” he said. He was infatuated with this plain faced rake of a girl. My silver gave her an air of power and grace and that is what people saw. They saw the fierce beauty of winter and projected it onto her blank canvas. The Tsar eyed Timur, how unseemly it was to know his name. As if they did not know how much power has held in those few syllables, when I had proved it just <em>minutes</em> ago. The demon might have been asleep but those green eyes were still incendiary as they looked at the guard.</p>
<p>“Timur Karimov, you have shown your worth,” the Tsar said in a haughty tone. And the guards' eyes grew dull in realization that the queen was married. His face crumpled slightly in envy and disappointment. “I hereby appoint you captain of the tsarina’s personal guard, I hereby appoint you captain of the tsarina’s personal guard”. He lunged forward to fall down on one knee at the Tsars feet and seized his hand and kissed it. “Your Majesty, I swear it on my life,” he said, in throbbing tones. My eyes felt like they would roll out of their sockets if I had allowed them to move an inch. Were all humans this indecent? Did they have <em>no</em> sense of propriety? No <em>dignity</em>? Showing their feelings in front of anyone who happened to be there? It was repulsive and <em>obnoxious</em> to say the least. I almost prayed for death to flee this obscene display of feelings.</p>
<p>I tried to ignore the rest of their awkward exchange, but there were knowing glances and blushes all around. “Dig there” the horse spat out and pointed to a mossy patch. There was a little mat of grass and straw expertly covering a door in the floor near the wall. It wasn't long before all the stones were moved out of the way. She knocked on the trap door and a balding head popped out of the hole as it swung down and opened. It nodded to the Tsarina and looked around at our merry party. He nodded again and they began to lead me down into the pits of hell, or a close approximation of it. After a few minutes of walking he led us to a small room with two tunnels on either end. The one we used, and one that led further in. The balding man had dug a round channel into the stone floor and filled it with coals. Then another ring of candles around that one for good measure.</p>
<p>The guard pulled on my chain and forced me into the ring of coals and promptly threw it to the floor inside the circle. I did my best to be an imposing tower. Usually it came so naturally I did it unconsciously. But my wounds and that fire made it an effort. I would not let them see me as weak, even when I was a caged animal. I was sweating a bit but I could mask it by refreezing it right away. I did not think they would notice, and if they did, it would only seem like my natural state. I let off a dim blue glow in this enclosed space and it reflected off the silver quite beautifully.</p>
<p>The dandy flicked his finger towards me and the coals were instantly ablaze. I twitched an eye and let them see how uncomfortable I was. I needed to preserve my dignity as much as I could before I went to the flame in the belly of that beast. I might as well have quivered in his presence. I hated myself for it. “Shall we be off?”The dandy said to his queen. “I’m sorry to forsake the manifest charms of this place, but we do have another wedding to attend tomorrow, I believe? A busy season for them.” Good, I did not want to look at his perfect face anymore. I had felt his bones crack beneath my hands and it had all been erased with Czernobog’s foul magic.</p>
<p>The horse faced Tsarina turned away from me almost absently and let out a sighed “yes”. She blankly took the arm of the Tsar as the bald man asked “A trusted man?” gesturing at the mustache with limbs. She nodded. “Good. He will come up with me and help to cover the door again, and keep guard. Walk straight down the tunnel. Take no turns. It crosses a few old sewers along the way.” I had to keep that in my mind in case I needed a new path out. They were shortsighted, to say the least. Why would they say the path out in front of their captive? Even if I was secured with guards that did not mean I could not find a way to free myself. Maybe I would never free myself, and obviously no one who <em>would</em> have helped me <em>could</em>, but it was completely audacious to be so careless in front of your prisoner.</p>
<p>As the Bald man and tall soldier left I heard muttering about the shrinking availability of trusted men. When I could no longer hear them I sat down cross legged in my uncomfortably small sphere. I had more room to sway about if I stood, but my legs would grow weak if I was on them all night. The Devourer was fed and asleep for now so I had until nightfall tomorrow to gather my strength for his next attack. I heard scurrying distantly from the tunnel the tsar had used. It felt like the stench was seeping into my clothes. I looked around the dark room and took in how bare it was. A wheelbarrow of coal, a spade to shovel more into my ring, some candles, and loose stones. That was all I had to work with. And it was nothing.</p>
<p>I closed my eyes and tried to meditate on solutions. But after a few seconds I would lose  concentration. My mind would flitter back between my people boiling inside the tower and my wife’s treachery. I wanted to kill her. Then I wanted to kiss her. Then I wanted to throw her from the glass tower. Then I wanted to feel if her skin was as soft as it looked.When I had seen her lying in the tub last night I wanted to see if her nipples would perk up at my touch. She did not feel the cold as much as she had before. My magic helped with that now that she had proven herself a queen. She would not have been my first mortal woman, but she would be the first I had seduced, and the first who would be in a bed. The first to have all her clothes carefully stripped off instead of pushed aside. I did try not to take women who were unwilling, but one mortal had begged to let her live. So I thought her maidenhead a fair trade for crossing my hunting parties path. She was in my forest after all, and a trespasser must pay the price for their crime. That was a long time gone, though. I knew I hadn’t left bastards in her belly though. It was unwise to leave half breads who might one day find a way into my realm. And if it was one of mine, they would have enough power to bring others with them. So I had ruined her dress with my seed instead.</p>
<p>My golden wife’s image flashed in my mind and replaced that of the other woman. I shook my head trying to get it out from behind my eyes. No! I would not think of her that way <em>anymore</em>. She had lost that right. She could <em>not</em> do that. <em>Ever</em>. She bargained away her rights to my touch, and when I would have bought them back with mine she was trying to wiggle out of it. A scared little rabbit hiding in the brush as a fox prowled nearby. That’s what she had always been. Her gift might have proven herself a true queen but I suspect she was frightened of sharing a bed with anyone. I did not blame her, many women were said to bleed or cry and shy away from mortal men. But Staryk <em>knew</em> how to coax a woman into desire. Men who could not make their women shiver and shake with pleasure just did not care enough to try.</p>
<p>I wanted to make her legs shake and turn into jelly. <em>Then</em> I would refuse to have her ever again. That would be a fitting punishment for thinking so little of our marital rights. She would come and beg for me to share her bed and I would refuse her. She would have nothing left to bargain with! Yet, it was foolish of me to think I would ever get the chance to do any of it. I let out a sigh of impotence. I could not escape, I could not reach her, I could not protect my people. I may as well have been a wight. Worthless and powerless to make good on my promises.</p>
<p>I wanted to kiss her and ravage her and slap her and worship her all at the same time. I hated her, and I wanted her and my mind refused to choose one. She wounded me, but only after I had wounded her. She <em>was</em>  the superior predator, and I could not free myself from her glorious, and awful grasp. I let myself wander into all the crevices and corners of my mind. All I could do was sit here and wait for my inevitably slow death. So I fantasized all the possible ways I should have dealt with my Lady. All the avenues I could have taken to prevent this. There were so many opportunities I had to ease her pain and loneliness.</p>
<p>But I thought she could never make me pay for my cruelty and indifference. I might have let her say goodbye to her parents. Maybe even strike up a new bargain to let her visit them on the first day of winter each year. Perhaps give her tutors to help her understand the Staryk. Have my poets entertain her and keep her placated. I was a fool who deserved everything she had given me in answer for my incompetence. The air around me gradually warmed. I could feel winter disappearing from this world as well as my own.  I did not know how long it had been since I was brought here, but I was growing weary and I let my head droop against my shoulder and slept.</p>
<p>My eyes were still gritty when I heard small shuffling noises at the far end of the tunnel. It must be nightfall now. Czernobog was coming to dine on me again. I stood abruptly and faced the noise that was slowly coming closer in the dim light of my coals. I heard a small splash of water and a rustle of clothing. That could not be the demon. He would be sprinting towards me in excitement. He would never trip over anything. Who was here?! It was far too large to be a rat, and too small to be that guard. The footfalls were quieter now, still nearer, but dampened somehow. There must be dirt in the cave, but I had not seen it when I first came in. Could there be another tunnel? The feet slowed down considerably and made their way towards me. The noise changed and they were on the stone floor now, with bits of dirt grinding beneath their boots.</p>
<p>I felt a breeze of air coming from the long tunnel opposite those small feet. He was coming after all, night was <em>here</em>. The little feet stopped for a moment as the air rushed out and made the candles flicker. Then they quietly came running towards my cave. They stopped just at the edge and I saw my Lady peer around the mouth of the cavern.  “Lady,” I bowed “Why have you come?”. Her eyes flicked around the room looking for danger. “You still owe me three answers,” she said daringly. I  paused and said, “So I do, it seems.” thinking on the terms of our agreement. She seemed to force herself to speak and demanded “If I let you go will you promise not to bring back the winter? To leave my people alone, and not try to starve them all to death?” I flinched away from her and straightened. “No, lady. I will not give you that promise.” I said coldly. I would not trade my peoples lives for freedom.</p>
<p>She was taken aback and I could see thoughts fluttering behind her eyes. She <em>still</em> did not understand.“So you want us all dead so badly,” she choked out, in horror, “even more than you want to save your own people—you hate us so that you would rather die here, feasted on—”. I looked at her with eyes made of glaciers “To save my people?” my voice rising. “Do you think I have spent my strength, spent the treasure of my kingdom to the last coin, and given my hand to as I thought an unworthy mortal,” I was spitting out my words, I paused and inclined my head in fresh apology for my tone, “for any lesser cause than that?”. The words caught in her throat and she looked terrified. I hurled my words at her “And after all this that I have done, now you come and ask me a coward’s question, if I will buy my life, with a promise to stand aside and let him take them all instead? <em>Never</em>,” I was practically snarling at her. But she <em>still </em> did not understand! “I will hold against him as long as my strength lasts, and when it fails; when I can no longer hold the mountain against his flames, at least my people will know that I have gone before them, and held their names in my heart until the end.” I shook my head savagely. “And you speak to <em>me</em> of <em>hate </em>. “It was your people who chose this vengeance against us! It was <em>you</em> who crowned the Devourer, named him your king! Chernobog had not the strength to break our mountain without <em>you</em> behind him!”. She stepped back in fear “We didn't know!” she burst out, horror in her voice. “None of us knew that the tsar had bargained with a demon!”</p>
<p>“Are your people such fools, then, to unwittingly give Chernobog power over you?” I said contemptuously. “You will be well served for it. Do you think he will be true? He clings to the forms for protection, but when he sees a chance to slake his thirst, he abandons them again without hesitation. When he has drained us to the dregs, he will turn on you, and make your summer into desert and drought, and I will rejoice to think that you have brought yourselves low with me and mine.”</p>
<p>She put her hands on her temples in pain and unwillingness to hear “We aren’t fools!” she screeched. “We’re mortals, who don’t have magic unless you ram it down our throats. Mirnatius was crowned because his father was the tsar, and his brother died; he was next in line, that’s all. We can’t see a demon hiding in a tsar; there’s no high magic protecting us, whether we’re true or not! You didn’t need my name to threaten me and drag me from my home. And you thought that made me unworthy, instead of <em>you</em>.” Those last words hit me like boulders lobbed at my gut. After a moment, through the grinding of my teeth, I said “You have thrice shown me wrong. I cannot call you liar now, however I want to. But still I hold to my answer. No. I will not promise”. I could never kill all the Staryk to save myself, I would not even trade one of the low for it. My solemn duty was to protect them for all time, with every breath I had, until the last.</p>
<p>“If I let you go,” she said finally, “will you promise to stop the winter once Chernobog is off the throne, and help us find a way to throw him down? The tsarina will help!” she added. “She wants him gone herself; you saw she would not take anything from him. She’ll help as long as it doesn’t mean all of us frozen into ice! All the lords of Lithvas will, to have an end to winter. Will you help us fight him, instead of just killing us to starve him of his prey?”. I had seen how low in regard the Tsar and Tsarina held each other. It was something to contemplate. But I was too furious to think on it, without thinking of her fault in this mess. I stomped my foot like an impudent child. “I had defeated him! I had thrown him down and bound him with his name! It is by your act that he was unleashed again!” I scolded.</p>
<p>She shouted back at me in retort “Because you tried to drag me away screaming to make more winter for you the rest of my life, and threatened to murder everyone I love!” her hands were clenched in tiny fists next to her hips. “Don’t you dare try to say it’s my fault—don’t you dare say any of it is our fault! The tsar was only crowned <em>seven</em> years ago. But you’ve been sending your knights to steal gold ever since mortals came here to live in the first place, and who cared if they murdered and raped for their amusement while they were at it: we weren’t strong enough to stop you, so you looked down your nose from your glass mountain and decided we didn’t matter! You deserve to be bound here and eaten by a demon, and so here you are! But Flek’s daughter doesn’t deserve it! I’ll save you for her sake, if you’ll help me save the children here!” I hesitated and looked at the tunnel where the air had rushed to not minutes ago. I turned to her and said “Very well! Free me, and this I will promise, not to hold the winter once Chernobog is thrown down and my people safe from his hunger, and to aid you to defeat him. But until that is done, I give no word!”. I would not let her cheat me again and leave me here to die.</p>
<p>“Fine!” she snapped back. “And if I free you, will you promise—” she paused “will you promise for yourself and all the Staryk to leave me and all my people—to leave Lithvas—alone? No more raiding, no more coming out to rape and murder us for gold or any other cause—”.</p>
<p>I looked up at her appreciatively, “Free me, and this I will promise: there will be no more hunting your people in winter wind; we will come, and ride the forest and the snow-driven plains, and hunt the white-furred beasts that are ours, and if any are fool enough to come in our way or trespass on the woods, they may be trampled; but we will seek no mortal blood and take no treasure, not even sun-warmed gold, save in just vengeance for equal harm given first, and we shall take no woman unwilling who has refused her hand.”</p>
<p>“Not even you!” she added pointedly.  “So I have <strong>said</strong>!” I looked towards the door again, and the light was getting brighter, red and leaping on the walls. It was coming quickly now. “Break the rings of fire!”. She bent down and tried to blow out the candles. They were <em> magic </em><em> ! </em> She needed more than breath to quelch it. She tried to pry the candles off the floor but there was so much wax she could not pull it with her thin arms. I kept looking at that tunnel mouth waiting for the demon to barge into view.</p>
<p>My lady grabbed a handful of moist dirt from the archway she had come out of and smothered it. She used her hands to force it out and I could smell the burnt flesh. I winced slightly; I was livid with her, but no one should be burned. She moved into the inner circle and tried to use dirt to quash the flames but it merely burned the dirt. She threw off her cloak and  folded it so the moist outer face was exposed and threw it on the fire. I could feel that the ring was broken and I almost shouted out “You must draw me out!”. She reached a hand in and took the rope and pulled me out. I could breathe freely again! As I took my last step out of the fire her cloak burst into flame and my leg caught fire for a moment. My shoe disintegrated and I stumbled onto my Lady gasping in pain. She almost fell too but shoved me back onto the wall next to her.</p>
<p>I was shivering in pain from the fire that scorched my leg, and the pleasure now that I could breathe in deeply. I could feel the spider webs of scorched skin all along my calf and the smell of smoke coming off my breeches by the knee. She seized the silver chain and tried to pull it off over my head, then down off my shoulders. She threw all her weight into it and they did not budge. How could a <em>sparrow</em> pull down a <em>mountain</em>? My eyes were still partially closed, my cheeks blushing white in pain. She tipped me over on the floor and I went willingly, my legs shaking beneath me, ready to give out. I lay face down with my nose in the dirt and she tried to break my chains with a shovel. Behind her a sudden shriek of rage filled the air around us. She lifted the shovel again and again in desperation trying to break my chains. It would not work, she wasn’t strong enough, <em>I</em> was not strong enough in my current state. And my arms were still pinned to my sides, tingly from the lack of circulation.</p>
<p>She threw the shovel down and took hold of my chain in her hands. It grew hot and burned my skin a little and I shivered slightly. It was not the same kind of heat I was expecting. It was magic trying to transform my bonds. The footsteps grew louder, pounding quickly against the stones. The coals reignited and I felt a wave of heat slap me across the side. Ribs spasming in agony. I wanted it to end, I did not want to watch her beheaded or devoured by the demon. I let out a whisper “The shovel. Quickly. Put the blade on my throat. Kill me, and he cannot devour my people through me”. She froze, “I can’t!” she croaked out. “I can’t—look down at you and push a shovel through your neck!”</p>
<p>I looked up at her with torment in my eyes “You said you would save the child!” I said accusingly. “You said you would! The fire comes for us, will you go a liar to your death?”. She started crying and whispered “Turn over on your face,” and  reached for the shovel again and stood up with it, her eyes running with tears, smoke shrouding us as I turned over. She dropped the shovel and reached for my chains. She was a <strong>liar</strong>!  He suddenly seized her from behind and yanked her back, and I smelled flame catch in her hair, a terrible stink of it burning. She was going to die and I was going to hear it. But as she was straining, she caught the chain with a fingertip, and it went to gold at her touch! I felt it change and the magical bond was broken. <strong><em>Yes</em></strong>! I felt my powers returning to me, not in full force but more than enough to defeat Czernobog again. </p>
<p>He must have sensed it because he let go of my wife's singed hair and jumped back. She fell to the ground coughing raggedly with the smoke and I let forth a shrieking blast of winter wind through the room. A cold as bitter as the flames had been, and all around me every fire in the room went out: the coals went dead and black and the candles blew out, the only light left was the dull red shining of two savage eyes across from me. The air was fresh and cold like a blizzard and I gathered strength from it. “Your bindings are broken, Chernobog; by high magic and fair bargain I am freed!” My voice was echoing against the stones. “You cannot hold me here and now. Will you flee, or will I put out your flame forever, and leave you buried in the dirt?” And with another choking howl of rage, the red eyes vanished. Heavy footsteps went running away, back down the tunnel. I would find a way to kill him once my kingdom was secure. My lady lay on the ground gasping for air now that the monster was gone.  She made magic in this horrid place, where no gifts of high magic should have been able to survive in her. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>How I <em>loved</em> her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I lifted my love into my arms and walked out of the dark cave. I followed the same short path they brought me through. I did not know how to find the one my Lady had used and I certainly would not follow after Czernobog. I cradled her affectionately in my arms and started to climb up the ladder. She was so light in my arms it was like she wasn’t even there. Perhaps in the dim light of day she would vanish like a fairy and prove to be a figment of my imagination. Maybe I was on the brink of death and fantasizing about my etherial wife coming to rescue me.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I took excerpts from existing poems that I thought fit well with the story.<br/>Poem 1- To His Coy Mistress- Andrew Marvell<br/>Poem 2-  Ode to a Beautiful Nude- Pablo Neruda</p></blockquote></div></div>
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